It Starts With One
by hmw95
Summary: When one part of the chain breaks down, the rest can't hold on and soon death is everywhere... Inspired by another story by the same name. CHARACTER DEATH.
1. Leonardo

(A/N: I'm taking out that old goal… I'm probably not going to even update Only the Night Can Hear Me Screaming (Let alone post multiple chapters) until AFTER New Year's… And this story is four chapters long and had pretty short chapters. Have a nice time reading it, and please review. The POVs are the chapter names…)

…**You can always be close to success…**

My family has been acting strange for a while now. No one really hangs out anymore. Well, we do, but in our own groups. It's been Don and I as a group and Raph and Mike as a group ever since Master Splinter died all that time ago. Raph and Mike spend every second of every day together. Don and I? I don't know if it's possible to spend more than every second of the day together, but Don and I are doing it. If he wants to invent something, I am at his side as his assistant. If I want to practice, he is there with me, sparring. At night, both of us are too scared to sleep alone because of the nightmares… So we sleep in the same bed. We are closer than ever.

Yet, it still feels strange without Mike and Raph around us. We are not a foursome anymore… And it just doesn't feel right…

"Leo? You okay?" Don asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts. He was just sitting beside me. How did I not notice he left? I nodded quickly and looked down in shame. "Mike brought up something… Very important…" He was talking to Mike?

"What is it?" I ask. It's been a while since we've talked about our other two brothers.

"He and Raph want to be able to hang out with us again." He answered. I sighed, although I felt like jumping up and down. Finally, we will get to be our group of four again!

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Things are now going great. The four of us even ate dinner together this evening. We all are watching the television together now. It's so great that we are all together again. But I still have to patrol tonight. I don't really want Donnie to come with me tonight… He needs to spend time with Raph and Mike. I stand up and stretch.

"Well, I better go and patrol the city…" I start. Donnie gets up and tries to follow me. I set my hand on his shoulder. "You stay here, bro."

"What?? Why?" He asks. I look to our other brothers.

"You need to spend time with these guys. Because we've spent a long time together, and we don't need more time. They need more time with you… Family's all you got…" I reply. He nods and sits back down. I leave our Lair, proud of our family's significant relationships.

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I jump from rooftop to rooftop, checking each alleyway and store, making sure no crime would get past me. Suddenly, a scream comes through the air. I sprint toward the sound. I look down and see a Purple Dragon member trying to mug a harmless woman. I jump down and pull the woman away from him. I go to pull out my swords, when the gang member smiles. Out of the blue, I am knocked to the ground. I look up and see the woman smiling at me. I fell into a trap… I am being held down by two other gang members that came out from the shadows, and I am defenseless. I feel a cold barrel of a gun being pressed to my temple.

"Say good night, freak…"

Those are the last words I hear before a gunshot sounds and my world turns to black.

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Don POV (I have to have reactions!!! So not the whole chapter is going to be in Leo's POV…)

Leo's been gone for a while. He usually gets through with patrol really fast… Well, when him and I patrolled, we lacked crime fighting. We always just wanted to get home. He might be actually looking… No. He still wouldn't take this long…

"Guys… Leo's been gone too long... We should look for him…" I suggest. Mike nods and follows me to the door. I look behind us and see Raph following as well.

We hit the surface and climb up to the rooftops. We are jumping from the surface to surface, when we hear a gunshot. I feel my heart beating harder with worry. What if that was with Leo? I hope I'm not right…

We head toward the noise. I feel bile rise in my throat at the scene.

So much blood… Surrounding my lifeless older brother's body… I walk over to him and collapse to my knees. The ones who killed him already fled the alleyway. I hear sobbing and turn to see Mike on the ground crying. Raph's leaning against the brick wall, his face pale. I crawl my way to my younger brother and pull him into my arms, trying to comfort the both of us.

"T-This isn't supposed to happen… We are supposed to be together now… We're supposed to be a family again… This can't be happening… We can't be a family without Leo!" He choked out. I realize that I was crying then. Crying because my older brother was dead… And…

My little brother was completely right.

…**But failure will always creep beside you, holding you back…**


	2. Raphael

(A/N: Glad to see you guys like it… I guess I'll just have to update this one now, won't I? Hehe… Enjoy and I am still looking for ideas for the sequel to The End of The Beginning, The Beginning of the End… So feel free to PM me or add your ideas in your reviews…)

…**You can't escape your problems by running away…**

Why does everything bad have to happen to us? The Shredder being our enemy, being mutants and being rejected by society, our near death experiences, gangs hating us, Bishop being an enemy of ours, and Dr. Stockman as well, Master Splinter dying… I could go on and on for days, but there is one particular thing that is worst of them all.

My brother was shot in the head by some gang bangers, and he didn't exactly… Live through it. Why am I hesitating? Stop being a big baby Raph. Just say it, like you always do.

Leo died.

There, I said it! And one more thing too, following up Leo's shooting. I've had these strange voices in my head, telling me things… When fighting now, these voices taunt me and tell me about how it was my fault that Leo had to die… About how we could have gone along with him that night… They try to tell me to… Do things, too. When disarming and defeating an enemy or opponent, these voices tell me to take their weapon and… Do things to myself. There you go again, Raph! Being a big baby, just like you always have been under that tough front!

Okay, okay! You really want to know what these voices tell me to do? What I have actually came close to doing?

They want me to commit… Suicide.

I don't even know why… These voices just… Tell me to.

Anyways, while the voices are staying silent, things have not been good with my remaining brothers. Everything is worse than what we started with. We stay as individuals and don't even do anything together, let alone say words to one another.

It doesn't matter anymore though. I'm escaping. I'm hitching a ride on a plane to Los Angeles, California tonight so that my brothers won't have to deal with my craziness any longer.

I will finally be done. My family will finally be happy… I hope. With what I will tell them…

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The plane is cramped in the cargo area. I don't know why people always say how cool it will be to be in a suitcase down here… It also kind of reeks of oil and… I don't even know. I don't know anything about this now. I don't know if oil is supposed to be a good smell to smell on a plane. I don't know how I am going to get off without being sighted… I am just clueless.

Time is going by rapidly, apparently. The plane feels like it is landing… All ready. That can't be right. We should be in the air right now, high above the clouds, with the bumps I am feeling that can only mean... Something's not right.

My prediction is hauntingly correct when the plane starts jerking and things begin to grow hot around me. I clench my teeth and eyes shut. I hold my breath, somehow knowing what's to come. The plane is flying downward at an increasing speed and I can't help but be scared and overjoyed at the same time. I'm dying here. But the voices will finally be dead…

Smoke surrounds me, but only for a short time, for I feel a strong wind pulling me away. My lungs feel like they are being squeezed and I feel myself fall through the cold morning sky. When my consciousness fades, I am almost happy with that.

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Mike POV

I wake up to the TV blasting in the living room. I get up and see a paper flutter to the ground. I pick it up and am about to read it, when a yell sounds.

"MIKE!! Get in here!" Don almost screams. I keep the paper in my hands and run out there. The TV is on the news. A plane (New York to Los Angeles) crashed in Pennsylvania. So? Then the news lady states that a 'new species' remains were found. A mutant turtle, with a torn, red band around it's eyes. My hands begin to shake as I look at the paper in my hands.

_Mike, _

_I've been gone for hours now, so don't try to find me. I've gone to LA, to start over new. Please don't forget about your remaining family- Don. Keep him company. Like Leo's last words to us, well Don… But you get my point… Family's all you got. Respect Leo's word, and mine. I love you little brother… Don't forget about me._

_Raph_

On the back it had flight information. Flight 122. My hands shake even more. Was that the crashed flight? Words come crashing into my ears from the woman on the screens mouth like a baseball to a window. Flight 122 crashed this morning. No… Tears cascade down my presently mask-less face and I drop to my knees.

"It was Raph, wasn't it?" Don asks, with a tearful voice. I nod and begin to sob. Don joins me. This is so wrong. What have we done to be tortured so? Don excuses himself, still crying, because he got a bloody nose. He seems to be getting them a lot recently…

Raph and Leo are dead. Don and I are the only ones remaining of the mutant turtle breed. We are the last of our kind.

Two down. Two to go.

And with our issues amongst ourselves, I can just tell that Don and I haven't got long.

…**Because your problems will still exist and may even grow…**


	3. Michelangelo

(A/N: I feel like typing. And yes, I am very bored. Want to know anything else?!)

…**Things can seem like they will be all right in the end after a tragedy… **

Things seem all right now.

I know I seem like a cold person for saying that, especially when two of my three brothers died within a month of each other. But that happened almost six months ago. Things going fine for us now. Don and I settled our differences and spend every minute of every day together.

But lately, Don has been getting very… Sick. He can't walk on his own anymore, so all he does is just lay on the couch. The reason why is that he is so weak. I have never seen anyone like this. Not even Master Splinter when he died of an 'Upper Respiratory Infection'. He didn't suffer too badly. Just a lot of coughing and slight chest pain. All that ever happened with him is that he stopped breathing in his sleep. Don is alive, but dead at the same time. He can still move his hands though, but pretty shakily. Sometimes I have to feed him. He complains of murderous headaches all the time. I don't know what is wrong and it's killing me inside.

All I can do is sit with him and make sure he is not alone.

I am sitting with him and watching some random show with him. I can feel tension, and nervousness between us. I know he is not paying attention to the television. He reaches for the remote and shuts off the TV. I can hear his heavy breathing over anything.

"What was that show about?" He asked me. Don can't remember things anymore. Even if it just happened.

"The show is called '1000 Ways to Die'. It shows… People dying." I answer him. I always feel nervous talking about death. I don't even know why that show was playing on our TV. Neither of us like death. He is breathing so hard… I gulp, knowing he is going to say something.

"You know… Y-you know I am next right? I'm next to die…" He whispers. I look at his pale face and see sweat dripping from his forehead and bags underneath his eyes. I don't want to believe it, but I know he is right. I feel tears burn at my eyes. I get up and walk to the door. I slip on my top side get up, a trench coat and fedora, and open the door. "Where are you going?" My brother asked.

"Out." I relied. He is about to open his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "I'll be back. I promise. And I will be safe." He nodded.

"I love you, Michelangelo." Don stated. I felt tears begin to drip off of my cheeks onto the cement floor of our sewer home.

"I love you too, Donatello. See you in a bit." I reply, choking out my words through the sobs I was close to letting out. I am about to walk out, when I see the keys to our underused 'Battle Shell'. I grab the keys and decide to drive. I get out of our home and head to our vehicle. We don't fight anyone anymore, so there is practically no use for the car. We just have April get stuff that we need. Not Casey. Not anymore. He moved far away after Raph died. And April met and new guy who knows nothing about us. She is pregnant with his child, and they are happy with an almost normal life.

I get in the car and drive out of the warehouse we keep it in.

An hour passes and I am driving around the New York just thinking. A stoplight shows, and I feel sadness wash over me again. Don is going to die, and I will be alone… I begin to cry, and without even knowing it, my foot presses onto the gas. The car rushes forward at an alarming rate, and all I feel is the crash and the 'Battle Shell' flipping through the air when I lose consciousness.

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Don POV

I turn the TV back on and change the channel to the News when my brother leaves. I saw him take the keys to the Battle Shell and I definitely know that he will be okay now. I fall asleep, feeling weak and with a pounding headache.

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I hear a talking on the TV. The news is on. I must have changed it to that channel before I fell asleep. The woman is talking.

"We are live, in Times Square, and it is snowing awful down here. The cars seem to be doing fine driving in it though." She states. I am about to change the channel, when a loud screeching sound is heard in the street behind her. A car is going forward fast, and it takes a moment for me to realize it is indeed the Battle Shell which contains my brother that is moving forward at a stop light. I gasp and jump when a loud crash is heard on the TV. "Oh my god! There has been a crash!" I feel tears roll down my cheeks and I know my brother isn't coming back now. "There is a creature inside! It looks almost like a blend between human… And turtle! It has no pulse!" I begin to sob.

My last brother is dead. And I am slowly dying.

And I will die alone.

Three down, one to go.

When will I die?

…**But the truth is that nothing works that way…**


	4. Donatello

(A/N: NOOO WAYYYY!! Haha, I am updating this story TWICE! IN A DAY! Yay me! Yay you! Yay EVERYONE!)

…**When all hope is gone and you feel like giving up…**

Don POV

Every day is growing shorter. Every day I am growing weaker. Every day I am a step closer to death.

I have a new caretaker now. April finally told her new fiancé about us… I mean me. She and he have been coming down every day since Mike died. April gave me one of her family members' old wheelchairs. If I don't want to lie on the couch all day, April will wheel me around. I can't feed myself anymore and I can barely even grip anything.

Today, April is helping me gather things. Her and Ted (Her fiancé) are taking me up to a rooftop overlooking all of New York in a few minutes. I have something to take care of. We gathered scissors, a small tray that can fit in my lap, and a lighter. I also brought something to make what I am doing whole.

We arrived at the top and I sat, with all the equipment besides my special part in my lap, and I gazed over the city I was born and raised in with all of my non-living brothers. I was at the ledge, and I was overcome with memories of my brothers on this very rooftop just over a year ago. Just weeks before the first death, Master Splinter. Our whole family was here, gazing at our city.

I shook the memory from my head and took out a family photo. This one, coincidentally, has us all in the order of our deaths. First, our father, next Leonardo, then Raphael, after him Michelangelo, and me at the end. I saw the smiles on all of our faces and I felt tears run down my face. It is time for what I came to do.

"My family… You have left me in this world… Last of our kind. I cannot blame you all fully, for none of you meant to die. First it was you, Master Splinter." I stated, slowly cutting our sensei from the picture with the scissors. "I will always miss you. I thank you for the lessons you gave us… We would have not known how to live if it weren't for you. After you, Leonardo." I cut my oldest brother from the picture and his image floated down and settled beside the other cut out. "You left after all you have lived through. You died honorable, my brother… After you, Raphael." I cut my second oldest brother out of the picture. His picture fell beside Leonardo's. "You were my opposite. But you knew how to live your own way, and I admired your individuality. After you, Michelangelo." I paused and shut my eyes tightly. I cut his image from the picture and he settled beside Raphael. "You left me alone. You made me last. But you lived your life to the fullest and I wish I did…" I still had my picture in my hand and I set it far from the others on the tray. I picked up the lighter and the other pictures.

"You all died, and I survive. Our actions impacted our city… Maybe even our world forever. But our lives… Our lives don't last forever." I lit the pictures and saw the faces disappear in the flames. I blew out the fire when the paper was now ashes. "But our souls… They will survive this. They will be among the people every day, even when they don't know about it. So goodbye my brothers, my father. My family. I love you, and I always will. I hope to join you soon." With that, I blew the ashes over the ledge of the roof top. I gazed over the city and saw the ashes quickly break apart and blow in the wind. I heard April crying. I turn and see Ted staring off and April hugging herself crying.

"April." I call to her. I see her head shoot up and she hurries to me. "Promise me, when I die, you will do the same thing I just did and blow the ashes of my picture over this ledge. Please." I hold the photo out. She gently grabs it and hugs me.

"I promise." She whispers.

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I am lying in bed that same night, a feeling coming me. Warmth. Tonight is the night. I am dying. I will be with my family. Breathing becomes a harder task, I cannot move, except to smile. Finally. I won't suffer anymore…

I welcome the darkness when it comes, knowing what is next.

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April POV

Don died the night I promised him I would blow the ashes of his picture over the city. Ted buried him, I do not know where, but I know he was well taken care of. We made a small memorial in a field outside of New York. We placed five crosses in the grass. One cross had a blue bandanna hanging from it, with the name 'Leonardo'. The second had a red bandanna, with the name 'Raphael'. The third had an orange bandanna, with the name 'Michelangelo'. The fourth had a purple bandanna, with the name 'Donatello'. The final had nothing hanging from it, but had a walking stick set against it, with the name 'Splinter'.

Ted and I locked the Lair from anyone but us. Everything will remain untouched until the area would have to be done with.

This all took three days, and I still had to fulfill my promise to Don. I stood at the ledge with Ted beside me. I took a deep breath.

"Donatello, I promised you I would do this for you. But I have a few words." I held in a few tears. "My child will be coming in a few months time. I promise that my child will know all there is to know about you and your brothers. And I hope all your guys' stories will live on from all generations to come." I sigh but continue. "I can't believe you thought you were alone after Mike died, Donnie. You have never, ever been alone in this world. You always had and will have your brothers… And me." I let the tears escape now. "You are gone, but not only will the Mutant Ninja Turtles live on in the memories of New York, but they will live on in my heart. Goodbye Donnie, I'll miss you…" I burned the picture and blew out the flames when they were ashes. I looked over the city once more. I blew the ashes into the sky and they disappeared into the wind.

I smiled, knowing I will never be alone… And I will always be watched over.

…**Remember the ones who help you to live because you are never alone…**

(A/N: Kind of corny ending, but emotional. I hope you liked this story… I liked typing it.)


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